ASHEVILLE - Friends of 6-year-old Lila Pickering brought flowers to Johnston Elementary on Monday that were placed at her desk.

Students in her class also made cards for the little girl killed Friday along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

“We have absolutely lost a family member here,” Johnston Principal Charlotte Hipps said. “We lost a child, and we are grieving the best we can.”

A crisis team made up of counselors and social workers from other Buncombe County schools was at Johnston on Monday to help students and staff deal with their grief.

Authorities have charged Lila’s father, Seth Pickering, 36, of Leicester, with murder in connection with the child’s death.

“Nobody can wrap their head around what happened and why,” Hipps said.

Students are asking questions, she said. They want to know what happened. And they are asking “why,” Hipps said.

Lila started at Johnston Elementary last year as a kindergarten student. Hipps remembers her naturally curly hair and “giant smile.”

“Precious,” Hipps said. “Absolutely a beautiful, precious child.”

Over the last few days, staff at school noticed Lila was coming to school wearing dresses and “very dressed up.”

“She looked very good, feeling very proud of herself,” Hipps said. “Very bubbly and happy. She was in a good place.”

Lila “just had a presence,” Hipps said. “She was a very, happy-go-lucky little girl, despite the circumstances of her life. It didn’t seem to ever get her down.”

Hipps contacted Johnston staff over the weekend about the child’s death. She met with the girl’s teachers Sunday.

Lila Pickering(Photo: Courtesy of Johnston Elementary)

“I felt the need to grieve with them,” she said.

Hipps had notified staff she would be meeting with the teachers on Sunday and 40 people came to the school to show their support. “It was beautiful to see how many of our staff had come together yesterday,” she said.

A local church provided lunch, and staff members shared memories of Lila. The school counselor also talked to staff about what to expect from children when they returned Monday.

Hipps said getting together Sunday to grieve made it easier Monday. She called it "the hardest, but best thing" she's done as a principal.

More than a dozen crisis team members were at the school on Monday.

They created a “safe room” where children could talk and try to process their grief, according to Ann-Marie McBride, a school social worker who is part of the crisis team. McBride said the team will let the school counselor or social worker know if a student may need more help coping. They may also contact the child’s parents.

The crisis team also provides support to staff, going into classrooms if a teacher needs to step out for a few minutes.

“We’re the extra hands in that classroom,” she said. The school is also sending home information on ways parents can help their children.

Lila would have celebrated her birthday on Oct. 1, and the school is planning a celebration of the girl’s life.

"I’ve seen tears all day," Hipps said. But "being able to hug these kids and comfort them gives me a lot of comfort, and that’s what I’ve been doing, going around hugging kids today."